Device for transferring rolled material from a rolling mill to a cooling bed

ABSTRACT

THIS INVENTION RELATES TO A DEVICE FOR THE TRANSFERRING OF ROLLED HOT MATERIAL FROM A SHEARING DEVICE AFTER A FINISHING ROOL STAND TO A COOLING BED. TWO OR SEVERAL TUBULAR GUIDES ARE ARRANGED AFTER THE SHEARING DEVICE IN ORDER TO RECEIVE THE CUT BAR SECTIONS, WHICH VIA A CHANGE OVER DEVICE ARE DIRECTED TO LONGITUDINAL GUIDES AND THEN DIRECTED TO A DEVICE WHERE THE BAR SECTIONS ARE RETARDED AND THEN FALL DOWN ONTO THE COOLING BED. THE PRESENT INVENTION RESIDES IN THAT LONGITUDINAL GUIDES COMPRISE ROTATABLY ARRANGED SETS OF LONGITUDINAL TUBULAR GUIDES, EACH   SET CONTAINING GUIDES PLACED AT DIFFERENT DISTANCES (R1,K R2, R3 AND R4) FROM THE AXIS OF ROTATION AND THAT THESE GUIDES WITHIN EACH SET COVERGE TO ONE AND THE SAME DISTANCE (RK FROM THE AXIS OF ROTATION AND THAT THE BARS FROM THERE ARE FURTHER GUIDED TO SUBSEQUENT DRUM SECTIONS BETWEEN OUTER GUIDES ARRANGED ON THESE SECTIONS IN A LONGITUDINAL DIRECTION WHERE THE CUT BAR SECTIONS ARE RETARDED AND THEN FALL DOWN ONTO A COOLING BED.

S. E. M. NORLINDH Nov, 23, 1971 3,621,696 DEVICE FOR TRANSFERRING ROLLED MATERIAL FROM A ROLLING MILL TO A COOLING BED 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 21, 1969 ON mw NN &

9m wwm Nov. 23, 1971 s. E. M. NORLINDH 3,521,696

DEVICE FOR TRANSFERRING ROLLED MATERIAL FROM A ROLLING MILL TO A COOLING BED Filed Aug. 21, 1969 Q Sheets-Sl1oot 2 w 1 I i2 1? Z Pa R7 V w United States Patent US. Cl. 72-201 3 Claims ABSTRACT 015 THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to a device for the transferring of rolled hot material from a shearing device after a finishing roll stand to a cooling bed. Two or several tubular guides are arranged after the shearing device in order to receive the cut bar sections, which via a change over device are directed to longitudinal guides and then directed to a device where the bar sections are retarded and then fall down onto the cooling bed. The present invention resides in that the longitudinal guides comprise rotatably arranged sets of longitudinal tubular guides, each set containing guides placed at different distances (R1, R2, R3 and R4) from the axis of rotation and that these guides within each set converge to one and the same dis tance (R) from the axis of rotation and that the bars from there are further guided to subsequent drum sections between outer guides arranged on these sections in a longitudinal direction where the cut bar sections are retarded and then fall down onto a cooling bed.

This invention relates to a device for transferring roller mtaerial from a shearing device placed after a finishing roll stand to a cooling bed. Two or several tubular guides are arranged after the shearing device in order to receive the cut bar sections which are directed to longitudinal guides via a change over device and then guided to a device where the cut bar sections are retarded and then fall down onto a cooling bed.

The rolling speeds at present used for the rolling of steel bars are up to 17 m./sec. To increase the finishing rolling speed is difiicult because sufficiently simple and reliable dividing shears and transferring devices from the finishing stand to cooling beds hitherto have been missing.

The problem is illustrated by the following figures: A bar section with a weight of G kg. and a speed of V m./sec. has the energy content G-V /2g k.p.m. At a coefficient of friction ,u=0.3 the retardation distance GLVZ 2 =gTM=LPPTOX. F In and the retardation time t= sec.

At the finishing rolling speed 20 m./sec. one obtains S=67 m. and i=6] sec., and at 30 rn./sec., S=150 in. and sec.

Large quantities of steel bars are delivered in bar sections with a length of 10 to 11.5 metres. It would be of great value if, after the finishing stand one could cut the bars in delivery bar sections which after the passage to the cooling bed only need to be bundled.

At a finishing rolling speed of m./sec., cutting is then required every 0.5 sec., i.e. (6.7 sec. 2 cuts/sec.=) 14 cuts are required during the retardation period.

At a finishing rolling speed of m./sec. (l0 sec. 3

cuts/sec.=) 30 cuts are required during simultaneous retardation.

The invention described in this specification is characterized in that the tubular guides consist of rotatably arranged sets of longitudinal guides, each set containing guide openings arranged at different distances (R1, R2, R3 and R4) from the axis of rotation, that these guides within each set converge to one end and the same distance (R5) from the axis and that the bar sections from there are further guided to subsequent drum sections between outer guides arranged on these sections in a longitudinal direction where the cut bar sections are retarded, possibly by artificial means, and then fall down onto a cooling bed.

An embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in FIGS. l-6, Where FIG. 1 is a vertical section;

FIG. 2 is a section on the line II-II of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a section on the line III-III of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a section on the line IVIV of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a section on the line V-V of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 6 is a section on the line VI-VI of FIG. 5.

In FIG. 1, the numeral 5 designates a finishing rolling stand, delivering a hot bar to a cooling bed via a bar transferring device according to the invention. When leav ing the rolling stand 5, the hot bar enters a first guide pipe 6, the exit end of which is movable by means of an air cylinder 7. A shearing device 8 is arranged to cut the bar whenever the air cylinder 7 moves the first guide pipe 6 with the bar from one extreme position to the other.

A second pair of movable guide pipes 9, 9 is arranged so that the entry end of pipe 9 is aligned with the exit end of pipe 6 when air cylinder 7 is in one extreme position, and the entry end of pipe 9 is aligned with the exit end of pipe 6 when air cylinder 7 is in its other extreme position. The exit ends of pipes 9, 9 are movable by means of air cylinders 10 and 10'.

A third set of movable guide pipes consists of two pairs of pipes 1 and 3, arranged with entry ends cooperating with exit end of pipe 9, and pipes 2 and 4 arranged with entry ends cooperating with exit end of pipe 9. Which of pipes 1 or 3 (2 or 4) will receive a bar from pipe 9 (9') depends on the position of air cylinder 10 (10').

The exit ends of pipes 1-4 are movable and arranged to cooperate with entry ends of further groups of four pipes 21-24 in a Way functionally resembling what has been described above, but by different mechanical means, to be described in detail below.

The pipes 21-24, and other similar groups of four guide pipes, are mounted in fixed relation to a hollow shaft 26 by means of discs 25 fastened to the shaft 26 and provided with holes through which the pipes 21-24 are threaded. The shaft 26 is cooled by water flowing from a source 11, and is rotatably supported in bearings 13, 14 and driven at constant rotational speed by means of V-belts or similarly driven from a motor driven pulley 33 (FIG. 3) and acting on V-belt grooves 32 on one or more discs 25.

The exit ends 31 (FIG. 3) of all tubes 2124, and all other groups of such tubes, are arranged at a constant radius (R5) from the axis of shaft 26, and lead into open grooves in the outer circumference of a cooling drum 41. The grooves are separated by radial fins 42 (see FIG. 4 for cross sectional view of drum 41).

The cooling drurn 41 is coaxial with shaft 26, and connected to this shaft by splines or other coupling means, so drum 41 and shaft 26 with tube groups 21-24 rotate as one unit. The cooling drum 41 can be split in shorter sections coupled torsionally together, in order to allow for bearing supports 14 at sufficiently close spacing to avoid excessive bending of the cooling drum 41. The cool- 3 ing drum is partly filled with circulating cooling liquid 43.

The proper cooperation between the continuously rotating entry ends of pipes 21-24 around shaft 26 and the exit ends of the stationary pipes 1-4 is obtained through a special spatial arrangement of these pipe end openings, and by the aid of a ratchet mechanism designated 12 in FIG. 1.

The spatial arrrangement of the entry end openings of pipes 21-24 and other corresponding groups of four pipes is shown in FIG. 2, which is an end view along section IIII of FIG. 1. In FIG. 2 six groups of four pipes each are shown, each group repeating the pattern of pipes 21- 24. Each of the four entry ends 21-24 are at a different radial distance from the axis of shaft 26, and pipe ends 21 in each group of pipes are at the same radial distance from the axis of shaft 26. The same is true of pipe ends 22, etc. The spatial arrangement of the exit ends of pipes 1-4 is shown in FIG. 5. Each pipe end 1-4 is movable in a circular slot concentric with shaft 26, and each of the four pipe ends is confined to a slot of different diameter. The four slot radii correspond to the four different radial distances from the axis of shaft 26 occupied by entry ends of pipes 21-24 and corresponding pipes in the other pipe groups, see FIG. 2.

The net effect of the spatial arrangements described in the previous paragraphs is to confine exit end of pipe 1 to a circular band in which only entry end 21 and corresponding entry ends in other pipe groups can pass. Similarly, pipe ends 2 and 22, 3 and 23 and 4 and 24 are properly aligned in the radial direction.

The ratchet arrangement illustrated in FIG. 6 ensures that pipe ends 1 and 21, 2 and 22 etc. are properly aligned even in the tangential position, so that bar transfer can be achieved. The ratchet arrrangezment comprises an axially movable sleeve 61 on pipe 1, a draw bar 63 acted upon by a pulling force P1 from a coil spring or equivalent, a catch 67 aligned with each entry opening of pipes 21, and a release mechanism comprising parts 62, 64, 65 and 66. The catches 67 are mounted on an integral with a ratchet disc 51 rotating with and rigidly connected to shaft 26. Openings are provided in the ratchet disc 51 at positions opposite to the entry ends of pipes 21. Exactly similar arrangements are provided for each of the remaining pipes 2-4, except at different radial distances from the axis of shaft 26.

The operation of the ratchet devices is as follows: pipe )1 (2-4) is initially in the dotted position (FIG. 6), and sleeve 61 engages catch 67'. Because of the rotation of shaft 26 (FIG. 1), both pipes 21, (22-24) disc 25 and ratchet disc 51 move in the direction of the arrow. Pipe 1 (2-4) will be forced to swing about its fixed entry end, while its exit end remains exactly aligned with the entry end of pipe 21 (22-24) as shown in FIG. 6. Passage of a hot bar is unimpeded during this interval.

When pipe 1 (2-4) has moved close to the upper position in FIG. 6, hinge 64 engages latch 62 on sleeve 61. The hinge 64 is mounted on a support 66, which is stationary relative to shaft 26 (FIG. 1). A spring 65 forces hinge 64 to take the position shown in dotted lines when it is not engaged with a latch 62. When the ratchet disc 51 has moved pipe 1 (2-4) slightly beyond the upper position shown in FIG. 6, the hinge 64 has pushed sleeve 61 so far to the left, that the engagement with catch 67 is released, and pipe 1 (2-4) is quickly pulled back to ratchet 67' by draw bar 63, and the entire sequence starts anew. Only during the very brief interval when pipe 1 (2-4) is pulled back by drawbar 63 is the passage from pipe [1 (2-4) to pipe 21 (22-24) interrupted. The four sets of catches and hinges acting on the four pipes 1-4 are arranged so that only one of the four tubes is pulled back at any one time, as will be seen from FIG. 5.

The total operation of the bar transfer device described above is as follows:

Assume rolling starts with all guide pipes in relative 4 positions as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 5. The first end of the hot bar will then pass from the finishing rolling stand 5 through pipes 6, 9, 1 and 21 into a groove on the upper side of cooling drum 41.

When the desired length of bar has passed the shearing device 8, air cylinder 7 is actuated, thereby moving pipe 6 so cutting is actuated in a well known manner, and the newly cut front end of the bar exits from the shearing device aimed at entry opening of pipe 9, from which this second bar continues to pipe 2 and 22 and onto the cooling drum groove behind bar section number 1.

When bar section number 2 has the desired length, air cylinder 7 is again actuated, a new cut is made, and the bar end number 3 exits aligned with pipe 9, as did bar section #1. This time, however, air cylinder 10 has been actuated as soon as the tail end of bar section numher 1 has passed, and pipe 9 is now aligned with pipe 3. Bar section #3 is thus delivered through pipes 3 and 23 to a groove two steps behind section #1. When bar section #3 is cut off, section #4 will be aligned with pipe 9', but because cylinder 10' has been actuated, bar section #4 will be delivered from pipe 9' to pipe 4, and via pipe 24 to a groove three steps behind section #1 on the cooling drum 41.

When bar section #4 is cut off, section #5 will pass the same way as bar section #1, except that tube 11 has now moved one step back on the ratchet disc 51, and is now aligned with pipe 21 of the next pipe group. Bar section #5 is thus delivered five stepsbehind section #1 on the cooling drum, etc.

Because of the continuous rotation of the cooling drum 41, bar section #1 will eventually move to a point where it will roll out of its groove and onto a conventional cooling bed 44, as indicated in FIG. 4 by numeral 45, and subsequently all bar sections will follow in suitable intervals.

In order to increase the contact pressure between the cuts and the drum, high pressure water 46 may be sprayed as a curtain along the cuts in which way the friction resistance is increased and the retardation distance S, and retardation time t, are reduced at the same time as improved cooling of the bars is obtained. In this way the retardation distance and retardation time can be reduced to a fraction of what it would be if the friction effect were caused by the weight of the bars alone.

This forced retardation method may suitably be used for fine-adjustment of the retardation distance in such a way that the bars fall down closely oriented along the length of the cooling bed, which is of value in order to be able to automatically bundle the bar sections. One Way of doing this, is to arrange two photoelectric cells a fixed distance apart along the drum so that the passage time of one end of each bar can be measured. Variations in the time measured controls the pressure of the high pressure Water device and causes the individual bar to stop at a predetermined position on the drum 41.

The drum 41 and shaft 26 can be driven at constant speed, or it can be rotated in abrupt steps, each corresponding to one groove division. The stepped movement of the drum 41 and shaft 26 makes it easier to time the falling off of bar sections from the drum 41 with the stepping movement of the cooling bed 44, and is thus the preferred Way of driving.

The rotary means of the drum is suitably made with an oil hydraulic motor which has a small inertia and consequently give a rapid acceleration and retardation of the rotary movement. This is of essential importance if one wants to cut bar sections in varying lengths according to the customers specification by means of punched card programming or similar.

It should be noted that the ratchet arrangement described above with reference to FIG. 5 is capable of handling two very short bar sections and one long bar section if only the average speed of rotation is sufficient and the sum of the retardation times of three successive cuts is not too long, e.g. l0+10+10 m. or 2+2+26 m. This capability is achieved by having three of pipes 1-4 connected with receiving pipes 21-24 at any one time, and only one of pipes 1-4 being pulled back at any instant.

In the position shown in FIG. 5, bar sections may pass in pipes 2, 3 and 4 white pipe 1 changes to a new position.

If there are no short bar sections it would be sutficient to divide the ratchet disc into two radii.

I claim:

1. A device for the transfer of consecutively cut bar sections of rolled materials from the point of cutting into sections to a cooling bed comprising a plurality of sets of longitudinal guides for receiving the cut bar sections, said sets of longitudinal guides being rotatable about a common axis, the receiving end of each of said longitudinal guides in a set being at a different radius from said common axis and the delivery end of each of said longitudinal guides being at the same radius from said axis, means for feeding consecutive cut bar sections to each of said longitudinal guides, rotatable drum means for receiving said consecutive cut bar sectons in parallel relation about the periphery thereof from said longitudinal guides and retarding them to zero speed, and means constituting a cooling bed for receiving the cut bar sections as they fall from said rotating drum means.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein said feeding means includes a plurality of guide sections having for- Ward ends adapted to receive consecutive cut bar sections and the rearward ends of each guide section being movable in an arc of a difierent circle of rotation so that each guide section Will be aligned with the receiving end of each of one of said sets of longitudinal guides at different radii and ratchet means for moving the rearward end of each guide section in the arc of its circle so as to align it with the receiving end of longitudinal guide having the same radius of rotation.

3. A device as claimed in claim 1 and further comprising means for directing high pressure water jets onto the rotatable drum means so as to increase retardation of movement of said cut bar sections as they are passed onto said drum means.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,236,084 2/1966 Kata 72228 3,258,951 7/1966 Kinnicutt et al. 72-203 FOREIGN PATENTS 173,601 12/1960 Sweden. 927,805 5/1955 Germany 72-250 934,465 10/1955 Germany 72-250 CHARLES W. LANHAM, Primary Examiner E. M. COMBS, Assistant Examiner 

